Consulting Experience

What kind of life sciences problems/tasks have I solved that created value…

PROBLEM/TASK (P/T) RESULT (R)

P/T: Identify general issues related to Schizophrenia therapeutic research and provide specific recommendations for path forward for Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceuticals

R: Presented comprehensive ZSC white paper (133 pages, fully illustrated) describing anatomy, cell types, & neural circuitry relevant to disease; Provided forward recommendations1

P/T: Lack of treatment paradigm to correct neuronal phenotypes in the human developmental disorder, NPC

R: Conducted discovery and early phase in vivo preclinical studies, which resulted in first approved therapy for NPC2,3

P/T: Determine temporal and spatial role of somatic Tsc1 mutations contributing to neurological phenotypes of TS

R: Created and published novel TS mouse model4,5; Received grants for investigating TS mechanisms

R: Developed approach to generate somatic mutations in single blastomeres during four cell stage blastulation (funded)

P/T: Identify how somatic mosaicism contributes to aberrant tissue (CNS vs peripheral tissue) formation

P/T: Establish which dopamine neuron subtypes are related to specific genetic lineages in vitro and in vivo

R: Generated conditional in vivo mouse line and mouse ESC lines to interrogate the role of Wnt1 in establishing VTA dopamine neurons (funded & published)6-8

P/T: What are the transcriptomic signatures that contribute to PTSD phenotypes

R: Established paradigm to identify and prioritize targets that contribute to PTSD (internal funding and published)9

P/T: How does TBI elicited by blast injury cause BBB damage and concomitant neuronal dysfunction, cellular responses, and neural circuit alterations

R: Developed platform that integrates controllable blast mechanism to quantify BBB and neural circuit disruption (internal funding)

Abbreviations/Citations:

ZSC: Zervas Scientific Consulting; NPC: Niemann-Pick Disease Type C, TS: Tuberous Sclerosis; CNS: Central Nervous System; ESC: Embryonic Stem Cell;

VTA: Ventral Tegmental Area; PTSD: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder; TBI: Traumatic Brain Injury; BBB: Blood Brain Barrier

Zervas Scientific Consulting (2006). Genetics, Neurobiology, and Translational Medicine: The Future of Schizophrenia Research. Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development, LLC
Zervas M, Dobrenis K, Walkley SU (2001). Neurons in Niemann-Pick disease type C accumulate gangliosides as well as unesterified cholesterol and undergo dendritic and axonal alterations. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol 60:49-64
Zervas M, Somers KL, Thrall MA, Walkley SU (2001). Critical role for glycosphingolipids in Niemann-Pick disease type C. Current Biology 11:1283-1287
Normand EA, Crandall SR, Thorn CA, Murphy EM, Voelcker B, Browning C, Machan JT, Moore CI, Connors BW, Zervas M (2013). Temporal and mosaic Tsc1 deletion in the developing thalamus disrupts thalamocortical circuitry, neural function, and behavior. Neuron 78:895-909. doi: 10.1016/ j.neuron.2013.03.030
Sahin M, Henske EP, Manning BD, Ess KC, Bissler JJ, Klann E, Kwiatkowski DJ, Roberds SL, Silva A, HillaireClarke CS, Young LR, Zervas M, Mamounas LA (2016). Advances and Future Directions for Tuberous Sclerosis Complex Research: Recommendations from the 2015 Strategic Planning Conference. Pediatr Neurol 60:1–12. doi: 10.1016/j.pediatrneurol.2016.03.015
Ellisor D, Rieser C, Voelcker B, Machan JT, Zervas M (2012). Genetic dissection of midbrain dopamine neuron development in vivo. Dev Biol 372:249-262. doi: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2012.09.019
Yang J, Brown A, Ellisor D, Paul E, Hagan N, Zervas M (2013). Dynamic temporal requirement of Wnt1 in midbrain dopamine neuron development. Development 140:1342-1352. doi: 10.1242/dev.080630
Dingle YL, Xiong KB, Machan JT, Seymour KA, Ellisor D, Hoffman-Kim D, Zervas M (2016). Quantitative analysis of dopamine neuron subtypes generated from mouse embryonic stem cells. BioRxiv doi: http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1101/093419
Zervas M, Gage A, Haas M (2025). Bioinformatics-Driven Identification and Prioritization of PTSD Targets Based on Published Multi-omic Data. Frontiers in Drug Discovery Manuscript ID: 1613261, Accepted.